Dork
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Dork is a term of abuse favored by American youngsters, designating the target as quirky, awkward, eccentric, socially inept or simply of lower status. Similar epithets include nerd and geek. Originally a vulgar term for "penis," the word is often used without any awareness of this sense, as evidenced by its use in the syndicated family cartoon strips Garfield for February 10, 2007 and Big Nate (in the form "dorkus") for January 13, 2007.
The term implies stupidity perhaps less often than it formerly did, and paradoxically can imply an unadmirable (bookish, academic) intelligence, much as "nerd" and "geek" do.
"Dork" is a common slang personal name for the Poser 3 & 4 posable man CGI figure.
Etymology
It is popularly asserted that the term originated as whalers' occupational slang for the penis of a whale, and by transfer became an anatomical insult, undergoing subsequent generalization and amelioration to its present meaning. The current state of evidence suggests that this is a case of folk etymology[1], as no solid documentation has been advanced for the use of the term in this context. One of the earliest documented uses of the word "dork" is a 1961 publication (referencing 1953), in which the meaning is clearly penis, but with no particular reference to whales[2]. Instead, the term may be merely a minced oath variant of "dick", the vulgar term for a human penis. Nonetheless, the origin of the whale-reference and its widespread credit remain unexplained, and the claimed derivation is best treated as unconfirmed.
